Already a board member of The Coca-Cola Company, Mr Bolland will be taking on a role which will place him in the frame as a potential long-term successor to IAG’s chairman, Antonio Vazquez.

An announcement about his appointment could be made as soon as this Friday, when IAG reports first-quarter results, according to headhunting industry sources.

It will be the former M&S chief’s first appointment at a London-listed company since he announced his departure from the high street bellwether in January.

Spencer Stuart, the executive search firm, is understood to have identified Mr Bolland as a candidate for the board vacancy at IAG.

He will join well-known corporate names on the airline group’s board, including Baroness Kingsmill, the former deputy chair of the Competition Commission, and Patrick Cescau, chairman of InterContinental Hotels Group.

Mr Bolland, a former Heineken executive, won plaudits for overhauling the image of Wm Morrison, the supermarket chain he ran before being poached by M&S in 2009.

He made some progress with the transformation of M&S’s inefficient supply chain, but fared less well turning around its poor performance in clothing, presiding over more than three years of declining like-for-like womenswear sales.

IAG is enjoying a different trajectory, with Willie Walsh, the owner of BA, Iberia and Aer Lingus, trumpeting soaring operating profits and the first dividend since the enlarged company was formed in 2011.

It has been aided by the reduction in its fuel bill following the slump in oil prices, as well as Mr Walsh’s success at cutting costs.